Ten Years Past
by ljp
Summary: It's been ten years since...what? My answer to the ring in "Travelers."


**_Ten Years Past_**

_By LJP_

Rated **PG**

_Keywords:_ Mulder/other, M/S UST, angst 

_Spoilers:_ Travelers and little ones for Small Potatoes, Dreamland, Arcadia, Millennium, Triangle, FTF, Chinga, Amor Fati, but nothing that would spoil the episodes.

_Summary:_ An explanation to the ring in Travelers.  Who was Mulder married to?

_Author's Notes:_ I go through phases with reading fanfiction, and this one came about after I read a whole bunch of Travelers fic.  I wanted to put in my own take to it.  So, here it is!  Feedback will be hung up on the refrigerator, and flames will be tossed into the fireplace.

_Disclaimer:_ The dynamic duo belongs to Chris Carter, 1013 productions and 20th Century FOX.  Um...basically I'm saying that I don't own the X-Files and, no matter how hard I wish, I never will :-)  Chrissy belongs to me.  

***

Special Agent Fox Mulder stared at the wall calendar.  The date meant something to him, he just couldn't picture what it was.  Special Agent Dana Scully sat at the desk across from him, working busily at her computer.  He sighed, shifting in his seat.  Mulder twirled a pencil around in his fingers.  His computer beeped, informing him that he had e-mail.  Raising an eyebrow, he opened it up, finding a message from an unfamiliar address, knowing it was from the Lone Gunmen, using a random e-mail for security reasons.  Paranoid as always.

Mulder,

Happy anniversary.  

Thought we'd forget, huh?

LGM

The e-mail made Mulder only more confused.  He deleted it, glancing back at the calendar.  Anniversary...?

"Damn."  He muttered, slapping himself on the forehead.  That had been too damned long ago.  Why didn't he remember?

Scully looked up from her work, glasses perched on the end of her nose.  "Mulder?"

He shook his head.  "Nothing.  I'm fine."  His partner knew better; she herself had used the excuse on more than one occasion.  "Are you almost done with the report?  Is it okay if I head home?"

Now she was worried.  Mulder never wanted to leave early.  She stood up and moved to his desk, leaning back against the edge.  She gave him one of her infamous Scully looks.  "Now I know something's wrong."  She crossed her arms in front of her.

He shook his head again, standing up and pulling on his coat.  "I'm just not feeling well.  If you need anything for the report, give me a call.  Other than that, I'll see you tomorrow."  Mulder turned to the door and walked out, leaving Scully alone in the office.

***

Mulder opened his apartment door and tossed his keys on the counter.  He peeled his jacket off of him and threw it onto the couch before falling back onto it himself.  He groaned and covered his face with his hands.

Pushing himself off of the couch, he pulled open the top drawer of his desk and reached inside.  The photograph sitting on top was what he had been searching for.  It had been taken ten years ago.  To the day.  He was smiling, dressed in a dark suit.  She was gorgeous, just how he remembered her, when he wasn't trying to forget.  Ten years was just too long for someone to be undercover.  And yet, he never received word that she had been killed.  He tried to shake the thoughts from his head and wondered what it would be like now, if she hadn't left.

The doorbell rang.  He took a moment to collect his thoughts before shoving the picture back into the drawer and making his way to the door.  He opened it and found Dana Scully standing before him, still in her suit from work.  She held two bags of Chinese food in her hands.

"Dinner?"  She offered.  "You left pretty quickly and I know you don't have anything edible here."

He faked a smile, knowing she had probably followed him home to find out what was wrong.  "Thanks."  Mulder took the bags from her and set them onto the counter, pushing the keys out of the way.  Working in silence, the two agents opened their meals before making themselves comfortable on the black leather couch.

An hour or so later, they still sat there, an empty bottle of wine adorning the coffee table.  She had previously kicked off her shoes and tossed her jacket on the floor.  Now Scully was busy relaying the story of her senior prom to her partner.  "So then, we heard these sirens coming closer and closer.  Apparently, the campfire..."  She stopped in mid-sentence.

"What?"  He asked, the anniversary pushed into the back of his mind.

"You're not Eddie Van Blundht, are you?"

He raised an eyebrow.  "You were the one who followed me home, bringing dinner, so I highly doubt that possibility.  Why do you ask?"

"I told him this story that night."  Scully explained, downing the last swallow of wine from her glass.

Mulder just nodded, not entirely understanding what that had to do with anything.  His tie had long since been taken off and his shirt sleeves were rolled up above his elbows.

The silence they had grown accustomed to was broken by the sound of a key turning in the lock.  Scully, who had her back to the door, turned her head.  Mulder reached for his gun.  The door opened and a tall, slender woman with elbow length curly strawberry-blonde hair walked in, not expecting anyone to be there.  She was more than a little surprised and her gray eyes darkened.  She was wearing a black knee-length skirt embroidered with white, pink and gray roses, a white tank top, and a matching pink jacket.  Her height had been increased by her three inch black platforms.  The woman took one look at Mulder and Scully and cursed under her breath.  She had a black trenchcoat draped over one arm and a suitcase in the other.

Mulder's jaw fell to the floor in realization and he jumped to his feet.  "Chrissy?"  He gasped, covering the distance between them in less than three strides.  

She looked up at him and smiled shyly, dropping both her coat and suitcase.  He lifted her up and spun her around, hands resting on either side of her waist.  She and Mulder shared laughter and their lips met halfway as he set her feet back onto the floor.

Scully shifted uncomfortably on the couch, watching the scene unfold and feeling a wave of jealousy at the sight of her partner kissing another woman.  She knew there was no reason for it, but she couldn't help it.  It was the first time in a while she had heard Mulder laugh and her heart broke that it wasn't her that caused him to.

Mulder and Chrissy broke apart, his arms still resting on her hips and hers locked behind his neck.  "What the hell are you doing here?"  He wondered, hazel eyes lighting up.  "I thought you were in Dublin.  I thought you were dead..."

She grinned, shaking her head.  "Don't you think someone would have told you?  The case was just closed, no more than an hour ago.  I've been reassigned."  She explained.  "Kersh asked me to work back at the Violent Crimes unit."

Mulder shook his head in disbelief.  "I...this...wow.  This is amazing!"

Chrissy agreed and they turned, his arm instinctively moving to drape across her shoulders.  Scully winced as she recalled how Mulder had done that while undercover at the Falls at Arcadia.  

Chrissy noticed Scully for the first time.  "I'm sorry, have we met?"

Scully shook her head.  "I'm Dana Scully...and you are?"

"Chrissy.  Chrissy Michaels."  She bit her lip and looked at Mulder.  "Fox, can I throw this in the bedroom?"  She pointed to her suitcase.

He nodded.  "Of course."  Mulder kissed her quickly and ushered her toward a door near the side of the room.  He turned back toward the couch and opened his mouth to apologize for being so rude, but was interrupted.

"Fox!  It looks like you haven't slept in here for years!"  Chrissy called out from within the bedroom.

"He hasn't."  Scully muttered.

The other woman poked her head out of the door.  "What?"  She asked, casting a glance at first Scully and then Mulder.  It hadn't occurred to her that Mulder had found someone else in the nine years since she had left and that Dana Scully had been that woman.  She hadn't expected him to be celibate.

Scully, although not having a clue as to the relationship between Mulder and Chrissy, realized her mistake.  "I mean...he sleeps on his couch." 

"Oh."  Chrissy frowned and disappeared back into the bedroom.

Scully raised an eyebrow and put her hands on her hips, waiting for an explanation.  Mulder was beaming and she tried her damnedest to recall him ever talking about a relationship.  Phoebe Greene, Diana Fowley, Detective White, several one nighters...but the name Chrissy just did not click.

Chrissy walked out of the bedroom having shed her jacket and shoes.  She spied the Chinese sitting on the counter and hurried over to it, disappointed to find all the cartons empty.  She searched the refrigerator, grabbing a carton of orange juice and taking a gulp only to spit it out in the sink.  Chrissy glanced at the bottom and the expiration date.  "Figures."  She mumbled, dumping the rest down the drain.

Ten years and she acts exactly the same, Mulder mused, shaking his head.  He looked up to find Scully chuckling softly.  Chrissy heard it too and she popped half of a fortune cookie in her mouth.  

Scully peered at Michaels suspiciously.  "How exactly do you know Agent Mulder?"  Her tone of voice was professional and Chrissy wondered the same thing about her, though she didn't mention it.  

"I'm his wife."  She stared at Scully incredulously before noticing the look of surprise on the red-head's face.  Chrissy turned to Mulder, gray eyes wide.  "Fox?!"  She wondered, hoping he had a legitimate answer for her.  

Mulder looked at Scully, then at his wife.  And then back to Scully.  He took a deep breath, unsure of what to say.  

"Mulder?"  Scully wondered.  "Is this true?"

He nodded.  "Chrissy and I have been married for ten years.  She was assigned an undercover case in Ireland shortly after our marriage.  We had no contact the entire time."  He gazed at Chrissy.  "I still can't believe you're here.  I had given up."

Scully, picked up her shoes and shoved them onto her feet.  She grabbed her jacket and glared at her partner angrily.  "I still can't believe you haven't even mentioned this to me before.  We've been working together for almost seven years and you've never said anything about this."  She raised her voice.  "What about Agent Fowley?  What about Phoebe Greene?  Bambi?  Detective White?  Marita even?  Mulder..."  She threw her arms up in defeat.  "I'm leaving.  I'll see you at the office tomorrow."  And with that, Scully headed for the door, only to be stopped by Mulder's wife grabbing her wrist.

"Dana, don't leave."  She swallowed hard.  "I shouldn't have come here.  It's been too long and...you two obviously need to clear things up.  I'm sorry."  Chrissy rushed into the bedroom, re-emerging with her trench coat.  Pulling it on, she opened the door.  "Fox, once you settle this, give me a call...if you want.  I'll be in my office."  She sent a small smile toward Mulder and left the apartment.

Mulder looked at his partner, who stood with her hands on her hips, an angry look on her face.  "Were you ever planning on even mentioning this to me?"

He shook his head.  She cocked her head to the side, disappointed.  He answered her unspoken 'why?'.  "Scully, Chrissy and I got married on a whim, despite protests from both our families.  Not even a month later, she was offered the assignment she had only imagined beforehand.  She took it, promising to come back as soon as she could."  He shook his head, falling back onto the couch.  "A year passed and I hadn't heard anything from her.  I met Diana and we just sort of clicked.  She and I discovered the X-Files and I submerged myself in my work, hoping that I could just push Chrissy into the back of my mind.  It was the wrong thing to do."

"You don't wear a wedding ring."  Scully pointed out.

Mulder nodded.  "Once the X-Files got mixed in with the Consortium, I didn't want them to hunt her down and take her away from me."  He looked up at Scully apologetically.  "I had given up on ever seeing her again.  Ten years is a long time for an assignment, we both know that."  He paused.  "Scully, everything has changed since we got married.  Everything.  It has changed so much that it didn't even register to me that today was our ten year anniversary until the Lone Gunmen sent me an e-mail.  That's why I needed to get out of the office.  I'm sorry."

She nodded slowly, trying to let everything sink in.  They had kissed on New Year's Eve.  He had told her he loved her after being found in the water in the Bermuda triangle.  He had confessed how much she meant to him twice in the hallway outside this very apartment.  But none of it could be true.  Mulder was married.  And he never told her.

She felt tears stinging her eyes.  She was not going to cry.  She pushed them back in.  "Happy anniversary Mulder."  Scully spat, hurrying to the door and leaving, slamming it behind her.

Mulder stood in an empty apartment.  Alone.

The End

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